Quick Definition
ἀνά Prep. and, apiece, by, each, every, in, through
Strong's Definition
a primary preposition and adverb; properly, up; but (by extension) used (distributively) severally, or (locally) at (etc.)
KJV Usage: and, apiece, by, each, every (man), in, through. In compounds (as a prefix) it often means (by implication) repetition, intensity, reversal, etc
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
prep. (with acc.), advb.
89.91 · Relations · Distribution
each, apiece, sets of (in combination with numerable objects) a marker of distributive relations involving numerable objects
MAT 20:9 · MAT 20:10 · LUK 9:3 · LUK 9:14 · LUK 10:1 · JHN 2:6 · REV 4:8 · REV 21:21
61.4 · Sequence
Collocation: ἀνὰ μέρος
in turn, in succession, one after another (an idiom, literally: up to a part, or: according to a part) a series in which each element follows in strict succession
83.9 · Spacial Positions · Among, Between, In, Inside
Collocation: ἀνὰ μέσον
among, with a position within an area determined by other objects and distributed among such objects
83.10 · Spacial Positions · Among, Between, In, Inside
Collocation: ἀνὰ μέσον
in the middle, in the midst a position in the middle of an area (either an object in the midst of other objects or an area in the middle of a larger area)
1 There are no doubt certain subtle distinctions in the meanings of the terms in 83.9 (μέσος[a], ἀνὰ μέσον, ἐντός[a], ἐν[b], μετά[h], εἰς[e], ἐπί[c], πρός[d], παρά[b]). For example, πρός[d] may suggest some kind of interaction or response and παρά[b] may focus upon association, but it is difficult, if not impossible, on the basis of existing contexts to define precisely the differences in meaning.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
ἀνά, prep., prop. upwards, up, (ef. the adv. ἄνω, opp. to κατά and κάτω), denoting motion from a lower place to a higher [cf. W. 398 (372) n.]; rare in the N. T. and only with the accus. 1. in the expressions ἀνὰ μέσον (or jointly ἀνάμεσον [so R
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
ἀνά ana 13x
prep. used in the NT only in certain forms. ἀνὰ μέρος, in turn; ἀνὰ μέσον, through the midst, between; ἀνὰ δηνάριον, at the rate of a denarius; with numerals, ἀνὰ ἑκατόν, in parties of a hundred. In composition, step by step, up, back, again
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
ἀνά prep. (the rarest in NT; M, Pr., 98; MM, VGT, s.v.), prop., upwards, up, always c. acc. In phrases: ἀ. μέσον, among, between, c. gen., Mt 13:25, Mk 7:31, I Co 6:5 (M, Pr., 99), Re 7:17 [so in LXX for בְּתוֹךְ]; ἀ. μέρος, in turn, I Co 14:27 (both found in Polyb.; cf. MGr. ἀνάμεσα).
Distrib., apiece, by: Mt 20:9-10, Lk 9:3 (WH om.), Lk 9:14 Lk 10:1, Jo 2:6, Re 4:8.
Adverbially ("a vulgarism," Bl., § 51, 5; cf. Deiss., BS, 139 f.), ἀ. εἷς ἕκαστος, Re 21:21.
As prefix, ἀ. signifies up: ἀναβαίνειν;
to: ἀναγγέλλειν;
anew: ἀναγεννᾶν;
back: ἀνακάμπτειν.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ἀνά survives almost exclusively in the limited uses seen in NT. The new ‘‘improper preposition” ἀνὰ μέσον is common : cf. MGr ἀνάμεσα. Thus P Magd 2° (p.c. 221) ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ te Ἰ]οώριος [sc. τοίχου] καὶ τοῦ τοῦ ἀνδρός pov, Sy// 929% (ii/B.c.) τῆς κειμένης ἀνὰ μέσον ᾿Ιτανίων τε καὶ Ἵεραπυτνίων, P Petr I. r1® (iii/B.c.) οὐλὴ ἀνὰ μέσον ὀφρύων, zd. IIT. 37(a)". 15. (B.c. 257) χώματος τοῦ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ κλήρου, OG/S 56% (iii/B.c.) ὧν ἀνὰ μέσον ἔσται ἡ ἀσπιδοειδὴς βασιλεία (a crown adorned with serpents), P Oxy I. 999 (A.D. 55) ava μέσον οὔσης τυφλῆς ῥύμης, etc. In Sy// 3344 (B.C. 73) περὶ ἀντιλογιῶν τῶν ἀνάμ{εσον] θεῶι ᾿Αμφιαράωι καὶ τῶν δημοσιωνῶν γεγονότων Dittenberger (who here prints as one word) comments on the barbarous grammar, the preposition taking dative and genitive together. "Ava λόγον “in proportion” is not rare : e.g. P Ryl II. 96!4(a.p. 117-8) (ἀρούρας) δή (= 8) ἀνὰ λόγον τῆς ἀρούρας ‘ata rate per aroura.”’ Note 20. 5851 (A.D. 156) οὐδὲν δέ μοι ὀφείλεται ὑπὲρ τ]ῶν ἀνὰ χεῖρα χρόνων, “the current period” (Edd., who cite 75. 997, BGU I. 15518 and IV. 104923). The distributive use of ἀνά is often found in papyri: thus P Oxy IV. 819 (ς. a.p. 1) τὰ δὲ προκείμενα (das) ὃ πεπρᾶσσθαι Sv ἐμοῦ ava δραχ(μὰς) πέντε. Radermacher (Gr. p. 16) remarks on its appearance in doctors’ prescriptions to mark the dose, and gives some other vernacular instances, noting that it began to figure in colloquial Attic in the classical age. It serves to express multiplication, as in P Petr IT. 30(4)?° (iii/B.c.) β(ασιλικοῦ) τ addpov κΙλ ava YZ pe “1ὸ of Crown land - 20 of unproductive = 30 Χ 34 = 105.” Cf. a papyrus cited by Wilcken in 47chiv v. p. 245. Note P Ryl II. 1687 (A.p. 120) ἀνὰ λαχάνου μέτρωι ἐλαιουργικῶι ἀρτάβας τρεῖς. “Ava méo[v occurs in P Tebt II. 344?° (ii/A.D). On the possibly corrupt solecism in 1 Cor 6° see Proleg. p. 99. Nachmanson Bertriige, p. 67 cites an inscription in which distrib. ἀνά c. acc. has the same sense as a simple acc. with kat’ ἄνδρα. δόντα ἐπὶ δὶς τοῖς μὲν πολείταις Kat’ ἄνδρα δην(άρια) ὃ, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς ἐλευθέροις ἀν[ὰ] δην(άρια) B (/G iv. 597°!f.—Argos, « spit”).
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
ἀνά (ana) — each. ἀνά [ᾰνᾰ], Aeolic dialect, Thess., [Refs 4th c.AD+] ὀν, preposition governing genitive, dative, and accusative By apocope ἀνά becomes ἄν before dentals, as ἂν τὸν ὀδελό; ἄγ before gutturals, as ἂγ γύαλ; ἄμ before labials, as ἂμ βωμοῖσι, ἂμ πέτραις, etc.; ἀμπεπλεγμένας[Refs 4th c.AD+] __A WITH GEN., three times in [Refs 8th c.BC+] go on board ship, [Refs]; ἂν τοῦ τοίχου, τᾶς ὁδοῦ, τοῦ ῥοειδίου, [Refs] __B WITH DAT., on, upon, without any notion of motion, Epic dialect, Lyric poetry, and Trag. (only Lyric poetry), ἀνὰ σκήπτρῳ upon the sceptre, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ ὤμῳ upon the shoulder, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀν ἵπποις, i. e. in a chariot, [Refs 5th c.BC+] __C WITH ACCU[Refs 5th c.BC+], the common usage, implying motion upwards: __C.I of Place, up, from bottom to top, up along, κίον᾽ ἀν᾽ ὑψηλὴν ἐρύσαι[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ μέλαθρον up to,[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἂν ῥόον up-stream, [Refs]; κρῆς ἂν τὸν ὀδελὸν ἐμπεπαρμένον[Refs 5th c.BC+]; simply, along, ἂν τὼς ὄρως[Refs] __C.I.2 up and down, throughout, ἀνὰ δῶμα[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ στρατόν, ἄστυ, ὅμιλον,[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Μηδικήν, ἀνὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, [Refs 7th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ τὸ σκοτεινόν in the darkness, [Refs 5th c.BC+] __C.I.3 metaphorically, ἀνὰ θυμὸν φρονέειν, ἀνὰ στόμα ἔχειν, to have continually in the mind, in the mouth, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀν᾽ Αἰγυπτίους ἄνδρας among them, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ πρώτους εἶναι to be among the first, [Refs 5th c.BC+] __C.II of Time, throughout, ἀνὰ νύκτα all night through, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ χρόνον in course of time, [Refs]; ἀνὰ μέσσαν ἀκτῖνα (i. e. in the south) [Refs 5th c.BC+] __C.II.2 distributively, ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν day by day, [Refs 5th c.BC+] in order of age, [Refs] __C.III distributively with Numerals, κρέα εἴκοσιν ἀν᾽ ἡμιωβολιαῖα 20 pieces of meat at half an obol each, [Refs 5th c.BC+] for the obol, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ πέντε παρασάγγας τῆς ἡμέρας [they marched] at the rate of [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἔστησαν ἀνὰ ἑκατόν μάλιστα ὥσπερ χοροί they stood in bodies of about [Refs]each. [Refs]; κλισίας ἀνὰ πεντήκοντα companies at the rate of [Refs]in each, [NT]; ἔλαβον ἀνὰ δηνάριον a denarius apiece, [NT]; in doctor's prescriptions, ἀνὰ ὀβολὼ β[Refs 2nd c.AD+]amounting to [Refs 4th c.BC+]; multiplied by, [Refs] __C.IV Phrases: ἀνὰ κράτος up to the full strength, i. e. vigorously, ἀνὰ κράτος φεύγειν, ἀπομάχεσθαι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον and ἀνὰ λόγον proportionately, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀνὰ μέσον in the midst, [Refs 4th c.BC+]by turns, [Refs 4th c.BC+] __D WITH NOM. of Numerals, etc., distributively, [NT+2nd c.AD+] __E WITHOUT CASE as adverb, thereupon, [Refs 8th c.BC+] and other Poets:— and with the notion of spreading all over a space, throughout, all over, μέλανες δ᾽ ἀνὰ βότρυες ἦσαν all over there were clusters, [Refs 8th c.BC+] —but ἀνά often looks like an adverb in [Refs 8th c.BC+], where really it is only parted from its Verb by tmesis, ἀνὰ δ᾽ ἔσχετ; ἀνὰ δ᾽ ὦρτο (for ἀνῶρτο δέ); ἀνὰ τεύχε᾽ ἀείρας (for τεύχεα ἀναείρας), etc. __F IN COMPOSITION (joined with other words), __F.1 as in C. 1, up to, upwards, up, opposed to κατά, as ἀνα-βαίνω, -βλέπω, ἀν-αιρέω, -ίστημι: poetry sometimes doubled, ἀν᾽ ὀρσοθύρην ἀναβαίνειν[Refs 8th c.BC+] __F.2 hence flows the sense of increase or strengthening, as in ἀνακρίν; though it cannot always be translated, as in Homer's ἀνείρομαι:—in this case opposed to ὑπό. __F.3 from the notion throughout (E), comes that of repetition and improvement, as in ἀνα-βλαστάνω, -βιόω, -γεννάω. __F.4 the notion of back, backwards, in ἀναχωρέω, ἀνανεύω, etc., seems to come from such phrases as ἀνὰ ῥόον up, i. e. against, the stream. __G ἄνα, written with anastrophe as adverb, up! arise! ἀλλ᾽ ἄνα[Refs 8th c.BC+]:—in this sense the ultima is never elided;[Refs 8th c.BC+] __G.2 apocopation ἄν after ὤρνυτο, ὦρτο, and up stood.. arose, [Refs 8th c.BC+] __G.3 when used as preposition ἀνά never suffers anastrophe.